Post-office mail-box lock



' F. E. BEST 'POST OFFICE MAIL BOX LOCK Filed June 19, 1923 PatentedApr. 14, 1925.

UNITED STAT PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. BEsT, OF SEATTLE, wA'sHINGTou'AssIeNoR o FRANK E. BEST, me, orSEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION or WASHINGTON.

POST-OFFICE MAIL-Box LOCK.

To all ii /m it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. Bns'r, a citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of VV-ash- 5ington, have invented a new and useful Postlttice Mail-Box Lock, ofwhich the followiug is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in locks and latches of the formcommonly used on post oflice mail boxes and an object of my improvementis to provide lock mechanisln of this nature that is simple inconstruction, etlicient in operation and not expensive to manufacture.

Another object is to provide lock mechanism of this nature having alatch which may be manually lockedby a person on the inside of the dooron which this lockImechanism is installed to make it impossible for aperson having a proper key to unlock the door from the outside.

A further object is to provide a lock structure of this nature in whichpin tumbler locking mechanism may be successfully used and in which arelatively long look housing is used in a relatively thin door and isallowed to protrude inwardly therefrom the lock housing having anexternally disposed rotatable sleeve by which latch mechanism so that ismounted on the inside of the door is operated.

Other and parent from the following description taken in connection withthe accompanying draw- 35 ings.

In the d 'awings Figure 1 1s a vlew 1n elevation showing the outerorfront side of a mail box door on which this'lock mechanism is installed.I

Fig. 2 is a. view .in elevation showing the top edge of the same certainparts being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a view'in elevation showing the inner or rear side of thedoor. Referring to the drawings, throughou which like reference numeralsdesignate like parts, designates a metal door, of the form commonly usedon post oflice mail boxes, said door being provided at one edge with anintegral guide 6 through which a latch bolt 7 is arranged to project tolock the door to any suitable frame in which it may be installed. Thelatch bolt 7 is provided with a rearwardly protruding integral stud 8more specific objects will be ap I position.

Application fiIed Jun e 19, 1923. Serial No. 646,335.

within which the end of a latch bolt operatmg rod is screwed, said rod 9extending rearwardly in an upwardly inclined direction as shown andpassing thru a fixed guide lug 10 on the door 5, a compression spring 11being provided on the rod 9 between the stud 8 and the guide lug 10 tourge the latch bolt 7 into a locked position.

The outer end of the operating rod 9 is provided with a screw head 12the inner flange portion of which is arranged to be engaged by a throwbar 13on the, inner end of a cup-like sleeve 14 that fits like a capover cylindrical lock housing 15 that is anchored in the 'door, theouter face of the lock housing being flush with the outer surace of thedoor and the innerend of thelock housing protruding inwardly aconsiderable distance from the door as more clearly shown in Fig. 2.

Lock mechanism, preferably of the pin tumbler type is provided withinthe lock housing 15 and arranged to be operated by the insertion of akey in a key slot 16 to permit rotation of a key plug 17 An eccentricpin 18 on the inner end of the key plug 17 is operatively positioned ina slot 19 in the end of the sleeve 14 and is arranged to turn saidsleeve on the lock housing when the key plug is turned to retract thelatch bolt .7.

A manually operated latch member 20 mounted on a pin 21 and arranged tobe moved by placing a finger on a 'finger piece 22 is provided forlocking the bolt 7 to prevent the door from being unlocked from theoutside by the use of a key in the look. When the latch member 20 is inthe position shown by broken. lines in Fig. 3 it does not interfere withthe operation of the bolt 7 but when the same is moved in the directionindicated by i the arrow into the position shown by full lines in Fig. 8it engages with said bolt 7 and holds the same in a. locked A strip 23integral with or rigidly secured to the door 5 forms a shoulder againstwhich the latch member 20 may rest when it is ineither a locked orunlocked pomail box, which is accessible to persons from the inside butwhich can be opened only by the insertion of a proper key in the lookfrom the outside makes it possible for a lOO to snap into lockedengagement with th member with which it engages hen the door is closedand the spring 11 will maintain said bolt in its locked position. \Vhenthe proper key is inserted in the lock and the throw bar .18

moved to the left from the position shown in F i g. 8 the latch bolt 7will be withdrawn from the locked position.

It will be understood that this look may be adapted for various usesaside from its use on the door-s of post office mail boxes hereinbeforementioned.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclosewhat I now consider to be a preferred embodiment of the invention but itwill be understood that the disclosure is merely illustrative and thatsuch changes may be made as are within the scope and spirit of thefollowing claims.

I claim: I

1. In a lock of the class described, a door, a lock housing protrudinginwardly from said door, a sleeve rotatable on said lock housing, latchmechanism on said door and means on said sleeve adjacent said door foroperating said latch mechanism.

2. In a lock of the class described, a door, a lock housing protrudinginwardly from said door, a sleeve arranged to fit over said lock housingand rotatable thereon, lock mechanism in said housing controlling themovement of said sleeve, a throw bar on the end of said sleeve adjacentthe inner surface of said door and latch mechanism on said-door arrangedto be operated by said throw bar.

3. A lock of the [class described embodying a cylindrical lock housing,a sleeve arranged to ifit over the innenend of said lock lions ing andextending to a point adjacent the miter end thereof, latch operatingmeans on the outer end of said sleeve and lock mech anism in saidhousing connected with the inner end of said sleeve for controlling therotary movement of said sleeve.

4. A lock of the class. described embodying a lock housing, a sleeverotatable on said lock housing and latch operating means on the open endof said sleeve for operating said latch mechanism.

6. A look of the class described embodying a relatively long cylindricallock housing, a sleeve arranged to fit over said lock housing, saidsleeve having a closed end arranged to fit against the inner end of saidlock housing and an open end extending to a point near the outer end ofsaid lock housing, key operated means in said lock housing for rotatingsaid sleeve on said lock housing, latch operating means adjacent theopen end of said sleeve, latch mechanism arranged to be connectedtherewith and manually controlled devices arranged to be moved intoengagement with said latch mechanism to prevent operation of said latchmechanism.

7. Lock mechanism of the class described embodying a relatively thindoor, a cylindrical lock housing secured to said door, the face of saidlock housing being flush with the front side of saiddoor and the rearportion of said lock housing protruding from the rear side of said door,pin tumbler locking mechanism including a rotatable key plug in saidlockhousing, an eccentric pin .on the inner end of said key plug, a sleevearranged to fit over said lock housing and supported for rotationthereon the inner end of said sleeve having a slot that fits over saideccentric pin whereby said sleeve will be rotated by rotation of saidkey plug, a throw bar projecting outwardly from said sleeve adjacent thesurface of said door, a

bolt operating rod having a head arranged to be engaged by said throwbar, a guide for said bolt operating rod, a latch bolt scoured tothe endof said bolt operating rod,

a compression spring on said bolt operating rod between said guide andsaid latch bolt,

guid means for shid latch bolt and, man

ually operated means accessible from the inside of said door andarranged to be moved into engagement with said lat-ch bolt to hold saidlatch bolt in a locked position. FRANK E. BlQSl

